Birding Today and a 150th Anniversary

 Today I ventured down to Rondeau nervously expecting rain (as usual).  However, the rain held off and I was able to get lots of birding in.  I started with a lakewatch at dog beach, as I like doing that this time of year.  I had the place to myself while there was much activity. 

At first, there seemed to be no set pattern to movement of gulls, but later thousands of gulls headed in a southerly direction.  Most were Bonaparte's.  There were three Little Gulls seen, but strangely, yet again, nothing in the rare department.  I counted over 6000 bonies!

The only shorebiirds were a bunch of Sanderlings, and one Dunlin.

After about 2.5h, I moved down to south point trail.  A fair number of warblers were flitting about.

Not too many sparrows though.  More sparrows were near maintenance.

I also stopped by Keith McLean C. L., but there was not much to be seen except lots of Canada Geese.  There were well over 100 Killdeer, but no other shorebirds during my stay.  I did see one Nelson's Sparrow, but obviously those have thinned out.

On an historical note, this is the 150th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire of October (8) 1871.  It was an exceptionally dry fall, and there were also massive fires in both Wisconsin and Michigan on the same date.

Fires were particularly noteworthy in the thumb area of Michigan. There are several references to that, and one is here:  https://thumbwind.com/2021/10/06/great-lakes-fire-1871/

This fire plays a significant part in the Mann family history, of which I found several references in books.  Before I knew about the book references, my grandfather told me the story, and as well, there is some hand-written material that I have from distant relatives.

It involves the family of a first cousin (William) to my great grandfather, who lived at Sand Beach, Michigan (near Harbor Beach).  (Several of the Mann's moved to Michigan after emigrating from England in the 1830's.)

One such book is:

 Lake Huron by Fred Landon (New York:  Bobbs Merrill Co., 1944), pp. 108-109.

            "William Mann, residing near Sand Beach, was called out of bed by a neighbour in the early hours of October 9.  Fire was approaching the place when men were engaged in burying some their few possessions in the hope of saving them. The Mann farm extended down to the lake and the four children were told to go to the shore and remain there.  If the flames threatened them, the eldest, Rachel, a girl of seven, was to take the baby and the others and wade into the water.

            "There were others on the beach when the children came there.  A neighbour, Jim Huxtable, who had a large open boat, took the Mann children aboard with his own family and pushed out a little into the lake where it was easier to breathe.  Though he was only a short distance away, the shore was soon lost to sight.  During the night the wind increased and he decided to pull in closer but found to his dismay that he was lost.  He shouted for help but none came and when daylight broke the boat was far out in the lake, out of sight of land and heavily burdened with four adults and nine children.  There was no food and all aboard were drenched with the waves which broke over the sides.

            "For nearly three days and nights the party was on the open lake.  Then, early on the morning of October 12, there was a hazy gray line in the distance which proved to be the Canadian shore.  The boat and its occupants had drifted completely across Lake Huron.  One of the children had died during the last night of the journey.  These refugees from the Michigan fire were given every care by the Canadian folk and efforts were at once made to communicate with the parents of the Mann children.  But telegraph lines were all down in the stricken area and no contact could be made.  It was even thought that the parents might have perished. After three weeks, however, William Mann and his wife were found and the children were taken to Port Huron where they remained till the mother arrived.  The little child who died in the boat was buried at Goderich." 1

            1Information supplied by Mrs. Rachel {Mann} Stewart to Mr. Victor Lauriston.  See LONDON FREE PRESS June 27, 1942.

The child that died was Hermie, son of William Mann.

So there you have it!  I am sure they could have used some of the rain we have been getting lately!